http://www.expatforum.com/expats/au...ats/australia-expat-forum-expats-living-australia/4989-thinking-emigrating.html

 

hi derekb,

dont know what your circumstances are or what visa your going for but we have a 176 PR visa it cost approx £4500 and took us 9 months it was only that quick as we had state sponsorship 175 skilled independent visa takes 12 - 18 months but if your job is on the critical skills list or you can get employer sponsorship it will be a lot quicker, could you post more specifics about your job and people will give you plenty of advise.

weelee

 

Hi Derek,

That's how we ended up moving over - holiday of a lifetime and we fell in love with the place.

Have you read through the sticky posts at the top if the forum? Specifically 'Thinking of emigrating?' and 'PLEASE READ: Helpful websites for your move to Australia'.

Cost of permanent residency (PR) depends on whether you are applying yourself or through an agent - if you do a search there are posts on this already.

You also need to check that you can get permanent residency since some people come across on temporary visas and then apply for PR later on.

The amount of time also depends on visa type and whether your skills are in need here. It can be anything from a few months to a couple of years - see the posts I mentioned earlier for more info on that one. When we applied in 2002 it took us 2 years to get our visas. There is also a time line thread and a new timeline website (see the posts I mentioned earlier).

Let us know if you have any other questions. Did anywhere in particular appeal to you?

Regards,
Karen

 

thanks for your replies guys
basically i work on the railway in scotland and am in charge of a faulting team that repairs signalling equipment etc(signals points ) and although my job is not on the list ,i have done some investigation and there appears to be jobs available to me but i need to be resident or have working rights to apply.
my wife however is a primary school teacher and her job is on the list .
our favourite area was brisbane as we were visiting family there but basically we travelled from cairns to brisbane and this was just awesome
any more help would be great:clap2:

 

Hi derekb, Just want to say its nice to read your post were off to brisbane in January on a 176 PR and can't wait, sooner if my house sells. I'm sure you will have no problems if your wifes a teacher in getting your visas. We started the skills assessment last June and was granted our visas 02/07/09 after lodging the visa in January. We used an agent as i didn't want the hassle of it all but to be honest it would be alot cheaper if you go it alone. We used visa-go immigration ltd and they were fab. Best of luck with all your plans ellisa

 

Glad you had a great holiday!

Now that's over, the fun begins with starting the visa process.

As Karen suggested have a look at those stickies to see which visa would be more suitable to you and your wife. Maybe if your wife is eligible she could be the main applicant.

To lessen the costs of the visa process you could always use an agent for the skills assessment part and then do the main application yourself. Basically, if you qualify to apply the skills assessment is really the most important bit..once that's out of the way the main application is relatively easy.

Dolly